On the occasion of the #womencomposersday, I will be playing a few pieces from French-German composer Marie Jaëll‘s piano cycle Les jours pluvieux (1894) live on my Facebook page. I’d be delighted if you tuned in on Friday, 8 March, at 1 pm CET, to listen to some unjustly rarely performed music. Thanks to Arno Lücker for launching this initiative! See here for the full line-up, featuring some highly valued musicians and ensembles.
Legal Dispute Settled in Court
I hereby announce that my legal dispute with Theo Geißler has been settled, and we have come to terms that neither of us will further pursue the case. Mr Geißler has made a statutory declaration that he did not publish or arrange to publish the comment in dispute which has been posted from the Facebook profile theo.geissler on 31 January 2024.
This announcement is issued to comply with a court settlement before Landgericht Regensburg on 29 February 2024. A criminal charge has been filed for abusive use of Mr Geißler’s name and profile picture. Investigation results are pending.
Crowdfunding Alert
I need to engage in an involuntary legal proceeding against an influential German newspaper publisher. After I was bullied from his Facebook account a month ago, he denied responsibility for this incident and issued a cease and desist order, followed by an application for preliminary injunction to keep me from reporting on the case. I refuse to give in to this attempt to intimidate and silence me, and therefore need to defend myself in court. As I probably won’t be able to cover the legal expenses and attorney fees involved in this procedure on my own, I set up a crowdfunding campaign. I’ll be grateful for any support!
Children’s Corner
My adorable children start entering the stages of Berlin! This coming weekend, Lionel will have his own music performed by a professional ensemble for the first time. His minuet for five instruments is presented in the closing concert of a composition workshop led by Jobst Liebrecht on Saturday, 24 February, 12 noon, at Apollosaal of Staatsoper Unter den Linden. On that same day he will also appear as a guitarist in the regional competition of Jugend musiziert.
In the meantime Cosima is rehearsing as a harpist with the Children’s Opera Orchestra of the Staatsoper and Giuseppe Mentuccia, preparing music by Antonín Dvořák and Marius Felix Lange soon to be performed. The first concert will take place on Good Friday, 29 March, 11:30 am, at the Staatsoper. Besides, both children have been accepted for the talent promotion programme of Musikschule Fanny Hensel.
Analysing Form in Popular Music
I compiled an overview tutorial on the formal analysis of twentieth-century popular music, available on the platform Open Music Academy, and including the models of strophe and refrain, AABA form, verse-chorus form and its variants, as well as structural elements of EDM productions. Represented styles and genres are Broadway musical, rock’n’roll, rock, pop, and trance; examples are taken from the music of George Gershwin, Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, ABBA, and Faithless so far. This is my first serious approach to examining popular music, so I’ll be grateful for any remarks and comments—in particular, if you have suggestions for including convenient examples from rap music, metal, or punk rock.
